Review of Good Kill (2015) by T-Manmoviez — 16 May 2015

'Good Kill' is an american drama/thriller by director Andrew Niccol. The movie was released on May 15th 2015.

The plot of the movie evolves around Major Thomas Egan, a former F-16 jet pilot, who know works as a drone operator at a military base. His job requires Thomas to carry out requested drone strikes and essentially kill people with the push of a button. Very discontended with this premise and frustrated because he would rather go back to flying jets, Thomas becomes emotionally cold towards his wife and children.

The movie can generally be divided into two major settings and plots. Thomas' situation at home with his wife and children and how he tries to cope with what he does and Thomas' situation at work, where he sits in a 'box' and carries out drone strikes. Unforetunately, the two plots do not go well together.

The sections where Thomas is at work and kills people in the middle east with a reaper drone are much more interesting than what ensues at home, where he gets into more and more trouble with his wife and starts drinking on a daily basis. It makes you kind of weary and uneasy in a sense since you just want the movie to go back to the drone flying sections. That is not to say that the 'family-plot' comes off as a filler, it just can't compete with the more engaging drone operating plot. Which is, in my opinion, clearly the movies strongest suit and something not a lot of movies have done; this movie does that well. You can identify with Thomas as he sits in front of a computer, conducting drone strikes from thousands of miles away, killing, in some instances, innocent people. It's the actual implementation of the 'if you push this button, people will die' problem. It kind of feels sinister in instances and while staying very sterile and clean at the same time. This aspect about the movie however could have used more exploration and screen time, instead there is drama about Thomas and his family.

What can we conclude here?

'Good Kill' is a movie of diversity. One plot very interesting and engaging, the other one not so much. There could have been more of the focus on what happens in the 'box', in the middle of the desert, which is, what got me into watching this movie. The performances were okay and the effects were nice. I was going to rate this movie a 6, but felt it was not deserving of such a comparably low rating. It is a 7, not a strong one, but 6 is too low for this.